Top contenders get early look at tough state course

By Ian Tsang for DyeStat

This past weekend Hawaii’s best athletes headed to the Big Island for the HPA Invitational. The meet was a preview for anyone wanting to try out the state's course early. Among the notable elites were many of Hawaii's top runners -- girls Jordan Jones, Ava Shipman and Veronica Winham; also Connor Lehl, Colby Otero and Avery Torres on the boys side.

The course, at 3,000 feet elevation, loops twice and includes a hill that adds minutes to runners' times. This was evident Saturday in the girls race where only three girls broke 22 minutes in the 5k race. St. Andrew’s Jones won in 21:49.29 ahead of Shipman (the 2015 1500m state champion), who finished in 21:52.0. Two places behind her was teammate Winham, who helped Seabury Hall place first in the team standings with four runners in the the top 12 and five in the top 14.

Punahou finished similarly with four in the top 10 but lost ground at No. 5 (19th). Mia Schiel came in third with a time of 21:53.77.  The final team scores: Seabury Hall 33 points, Punahou 36, Iolani 89.

In the boys race, Lehl held off a late kick from Otero in a sprint finish. The only runners under 18 minutes, Lehl had a tiny edge at the finish line, 17:59.17 to 17:59.45. In third was Otero’s teammate Torres, who ran 18:17.14. In fourth was Punahou’s Aaron Shiinoki in 18:23.13.

Iolani’s Nicholas Arima, fifth, led his team to a first place finish (52 points) with a time of 18:25.97. Punahou was second with 54 points. In third place was Waiakea, the only team in the top 3 from the Big Island, with 88 points. Waiakea, who placed as the top public school for the 2015 season, will attempt to defend its title with a strong trio that finished in the top 14 on Saturday (Adrian Larkspur 9th, Slater Inouye 11th, and Rylie Cabalse 14th.)